Leveraging Convolutional Neural Network and Explainable AI for Enhanced Pneumonia Detection

Advances in machine learning and computer vision have significantly improved the diagnostic capabilities of medical imaging. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have emerged as a crucial tool for image classification, particularly in detecting pneumonia from chest X-ray images. Despite their high accuracy, CNNs face challenges in clinical adoption due to their lack of interpretability. Medical practitioners require a clear understanding of the decision-making process to trust AI-generated diagnoses. To address the aforementioned challenge, we propose pneumonia classification model incorporating CNN with a combination of the model and Grad-CAM, for enhanced interpretability. Grad-CAM visually outlines critical regions, influencing the prediction, so the clinician can easily confirm AI-based diagnoses with a more confident and credible approach. It is exclusively for pediatric pneumonia, an accurate and explainable machine for early interventions that can also work in resource-scarce regions. Our research uses a set of 5,863 pediatric chest X-ray images, divided into Pneumonia and Normal classes. The dataset was acquired from Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center and divided into three subsets: training, validation, and test. By improving the accuracy and transparency of the diagnosis, this model can help bridge the gap between AI and the real world. This can help facilitate quicker and more reliable pneumonia diagnostics.